In its simpler forms, apparel for riding horses has included clothing such as loincloths or tunics worn by ancient Greeks and Romans. In more complex forms, riding apparel has included armored suits having chain mail, breast plates, gauntlets and armets such as those worn in medieval times by knights for protection. Today, horse riding apparel is provided in many different styles particularly for sporting events. For instance, in racing horses, jockeys often wear brightly colored, loose-fitting outfits for visibly distinguishing themselves from other jockeys in a race. Such jockey outfits often include colors and numbers that correspond to colors and numbers provided on their horses such that both horse and jockey are distinguishable from the field of other jockeys and horses. In rodeo events, horse riders often wear rugged cowboy attire including a cowboy hat, button down shirt, jeans, chaps and cowboy boots. Uniforms are commonly worn by police personnel on horseback. Such uniforms may include a shirt of a blue or white color, black pants, black boots, a white helmet and a gun belt. Hand cuffs, guns, and other items attach to the gun belt. Still other styles of horse riding apparel are commonly worn for competition horse riding and jumping. These styles include black riding caps, red riding jackets, white or brown jodhpur pants, jodhpur boots, and riding gloves. Such existing riding apparel, however, is generally unsuitable for training proper horse riding techniques.
For example, in training for the sport of competitive horse riding a rider learns to guide a horse through a series of complex maneuvers by slight movements of the rider's hands, legs and weight. Judges of competitive horse riding award points to the rider for precisely moving and positioning the rider's body to maneuver the horse through a course of walking, trotting, circling, jumping, and the like. The development of proper riding techniques requires for competitive horse riding that the rider and the horse practice many hours of riding. An instructor typically facilitates the training of the rider and the horse. The instructor observes the precise body positioning of the rider as she or he rides the horse and provides corrective suggestions to the rider concerning the "angulation" and posture of a rider's body.
The term "angulation" refers to the angles of certain portions of the rider's body. Proper angulation is determined by the instructor visually assessing whether the rider's body is correctly positioned. For instance, an ankle angle between a rider's foot and shin should be bent at approximately 90 degrees. Other portions of the rider's body are held at approximately 135 degrees in relation to one another including a knee angle between a rider's calf and thigh, a hip angle between a rider's thigh and upper body, and an elbow angle between a rider's upper and lower arm. The angle of the rider's hands in relation to one another should be held at approximately 90 degrees with each of the rider's index fingers curled into a respective thumb at an approximately 90 degree angle. Of course, these angles may vary depending upon the style of riding, the size of the horse, and the size of the rider.
The term "posture" refers to the pitch, roll and yaw of the rider. The terms "pitch", "roll", and "yaw" refer to the positioning of the rider with respect to a three axis spatial orientation. Proper posture of the rider is determined by the instructor visually evaluating the pitch, roll and yaw of a rider's head, upper body, lower body, hands and feet individually and in relation to one another. The pitch of the rider's head refers to the forward or rearward pivotal movement of the head about a longitudinal axis at the juncture of the head and the upper body of the rider. The roll of the rider's head refers to the sideways pivotal movement of the head about a longitudinal axis at the juncture of the head and the upper body of the rider. The yaw of the rider's head refers to the rotational movement of the head about a vertical axis generally running through an upright centerline of the rider's body.
The pitch of the rider's upper body refers to the forward or rearward pivotal movement of the upper body about a longitudinal axis at the juncture of the upper body and the lower body of the rider. The roll of the rider's upper body refers to the sideways pivotal movement of the upper body about a longitudinal axis at the juncture of the upper body and the lower body of the rider. The yaw of the rider's upper body refers to the rotational movement of the upper body about a vertical axis generally running through an upright centerline of the rider's body.
The pitch of the rider's lower body refers to forward or rearward pivotal movement of the lower body about a longitudinal axis at the juncture of the lower body and the upper body of the rider. The roll of the rider's lower body refers to sideways pivotal movement of the lower body about a longitudinal axis at the juncture of the lower body and the upper body of the rider. The yaw of the rider's lower body refers to rotational movement of the lower body about a vertical axis generally running through an upright centerline of the rider's body.
The pitch of the rider's hands refers to the pivotal movement of each hand about a longitudinal axis at the juncture of the hand and the wrist of the rider. The "pitch" longitudinal axis is generally in the same plane as the fingers of the hand. The roll of the rider's hand refers to the rotational movement of the hand about a "roll" longitudinal axis extending generally in the same plane and centerline as the forearm to which the hand is connected. The yaw of the rider's hand refers to the sideways pivotal movement of the hand about a longitudinal axis transverse to the "pitch" longitudinal axis and the "roll" longitudinal axis.
The pitch of a rider's foot refers to the pivotal movement of the foot about a longitudinal axis extending generally through the rider's ankle. The "pitch" longitudinal axis of the foot is in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the toes of the rider's foot. The roll of a rider's foot refers to the pivotal movement of the rider's foot about a "roll" longitudinal axis extending generally through the rider's ankle. The "roll" longitudinal axis is transverse to the "pitch" longitudinal axis and generally parallel to a centerline extending from the heel of the foot to the toes. The yaw of a rider's foot refers to the rotational movement of the foot about a longitudinal axis extending through a centerline substantially congruent with the lower leg of the rider.
Effective training of equestrian riding requires visual communication of a rider's angulation and posture to an instructor. Instructors who decipher quickly the body positioning of the rider are able to communicate corrective suggestions to the rider promptly for incorporation by the rider into his or her riding techniques at the time of the occurrence during the ride. Instructor's suggestions received after the fact must be considered with a recreation of the particular incident in hindsight by the rider in order for the rider to understand the corrective suggestion and incorporate the change into the rider's techniques. This subsequent recreation for correction is not entirely satisfactory.
Existing horse riding apparel is generally unsuitable for assisting instructors in accurately and quickly determining the proper angulation and posture of riders for communicating corrective feedback to riders during training rides. Rather than accelerating visual communication between the rider and the instructor, such existing apparel tends to hide the outline and positioning of a rider's body as the apparel is often loosely hung about the rider's body. Such apparel thereby impairs visual communication of the angulation and posture of the rider's body to the instructor. Also, the different pieces of clothing that comprise existing riding apparel neither cooperate nor align with one another to visually communicate to the instructor the angulation or posture of the rider's body parts in relation to one another. For example, in the above-described rodeo event attire, a cowboy hat merely covers the rider's head and shades the rider's eyes. Cowboy hats neither align nor cooperate with a button down shirt or blue jeans or chaps or boots for communicating proper angulation or posture of the rider's body. Other the heads and bodies of riders wearing such attire is difficult for an instructor to determine.
Moreover, existing horse riding apparel is designed to communicate messages to others that are unrelated to the body positioning of the rider. For instance, jockey outfits convey bright colors and numbers to observers to distinguish the jockeys from the field. Also, police uniforms are designed to communicate information about the officer's authority and serve to support police equipment such as guns and handcuffs. Thus, the visual communication of existing riding apparel distracts the observer from the evaluation of the angulation and posture of the rider's head and body.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for apparel that visually highlights to an instructor the angulation and positioning of a rider's head, upper body including arms and hands, lower body and feet. It is to the provision of such that the present invention is directed.